JAKARTA - The Russian military gave an ultimatum to Ukrainian troops in Mariupol to lay down their weapons, as the fighting in the city escalated, at the same time one of its top military officers was killed in the city.
Russia on Sunday asked Ukrainian troops to lay down their weapons in the eastern port city of Mariupol, where Moscow says a "terrible humanitarian catastrophe" is unfolding.
"Put down your weapons," Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, director of Russia's National Defense Management Center, said in a briefing distributed by the defense ministry.
"A terrible humanitarian catastrophe has developed. Everyone who lays down their weapons is guaranteed a safe exit from Mariupol," Mizintsev said.
Mariupol has endured some of the heaviest bombings since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. Many of its 400.000 residents remain trapped in the city with little food, water, and electricity.
Mizintsev said the humanitarian corridor for civilians would open east and west from Mariupol at 10 a.m. Moscow time on Monday.
Ukraine has until 5 a.m. Moscow time to respond to the humanitarian corridor offer and lay down arms, he said.
Mizintsev, without providing evidence, said that 'bandits', Ukrainian neo-Nazis, and nationalists had engaged in "mass terror" and carried out a massacre in the city.
Instead, Ukraine said it was fighting for its existence and President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday the siege of Mariupol was a "terror that will be remembered for centuries to come".
In response to this, Mizintsev said Russia did not use heavy weapons in Mariupol. He said Russia had evacuated 59.304 people out of the city but 130.000 civilians remained effective hostages there. He said 330.686 people had been evacuated from Ukraine by Russia since the start of the "operation".
The Mariupol city council said on its Telegram channel late Saturday that several thousand residents had been "deported" to Russia over the past week.
Military Officer
Separately, Ukraine claims its forces have shot dead the deputy commander of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, in another significant blow to Vladimir Putin's forces.
First-ranked captain Andrey Paliy, 51, is a senior naval officer presumed dead in the war in Ukraine, with Kyiv claiming to have killed five army generals.
Paliy's death adds to the long list of Russian military officials killed in Ukraine. Colonel Sergei Sukharev, of the 331st Guards Parachute Assault Regiment from Kostroma, was killed on March 18 and Andrei Sukhovetsky, 47, was killed in a special operation by snipers on March 3.
In addition, Major General Oleg Mityaev, commander of the 150th motorized rifle division of the army, died in the fighting around the besieged city of Mariupol. Next came Major General Vitaly Gerasimov who was killed on March 7 outside the eastern city of Kharkiv and Major General Andrey Kolesnikov, Commander of the Kantemirovskaya Tank Guard Division, died in battle on March 11.
It comes as Russia claims to have attacked a training facility for foreign fighters, killing more than 100 special forces personnel and non-Ukrainian mercenaries.
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Paliy's death was apparently confirmed by a Russian friend, Konstantin Tsarenko, secretary of the general board of the Sevastopol Nakhimov Naval School, although it has not been officially acknowledged by Moscow.
One account said that he had been involved with Russian marine attacks near Mariupol. However, the exact circumstances of his reported death are unknown.
To note, Paliy was born in Kyiv and in 1993 refused to take the Ukrainian military oath, instead serving in Russia's Northern Fleet. He previously served on the Russian nuclear missile cruiser 'Peter the Great'. He also served as deputy head of the Russian naval academy in Sevastopol, in annexed Crimea.
Separately, Ukrainian official Anton Gerashchenko claimed Paliy's death in the early hours of yesterday without providing further details.
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